Quechua had already expanded across wide ranges of the central Andes long before the expansion of the Inca Empire. The Inca were just one among many peoples in present-day Peru who already spoke forms of Quechua. In the Cuzco region, Quechua was influenced by local languages such as Aymara. The Cuzco variety of Quechua developed as quite distinct. In similar way, a diverse group of dialects developed in different areas related to existing local languages during the period when the Inca Empire ruled and imposed Quechua as the official language.

After the Spanish conquest in the 16th century, Quechua continued to be used widely as the "general language" and main means of communication between the Spaniards and the indigenous population. The Roman Catholic Church adopted Quechua to use as the language of evangelisation. Given use by the missionaries, the range of Quechua continued to expand in some areas.

But the administrative and religious use of Quechua was terminated in the late 18th century when it was banned from public use in Peru in response to the Túpac Amaru II rebellion.[3] The Crown banned even "loyal" pro-Catholic texts in Quechua, such as Garcilaso de la Vega's Comentarios Reales.[4] Despite a brief revival of the language immediately after independence in the 19th century, the prestige of Quechua had decreased sharply. Its use gradually was restricted to more isolated and conservative rural areas.[3]

The oldest written records of the language are by missionary Fray Domingo de Santo Tomás, who arrived in Peru in 1538 and learned the language from 1540. He published his Grammatica o arte de la lengua general de los indios de los reynos del Perú in 1560.[5][6]

Map of Peru showing the distribution of individual Quechua languages by district.

Today, Quechua has the status of an official language in Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru, along with Spanish.

Currently, the major obstacle to the diffusion of the usage and teaching of Quechua is the lack of written material in the Quechua language, namely books, newspapers, software, magazines, etc. Thus, Quechua, along with Aymara and the minor indigenous languages, remains essentially a spoken language.

In recent years, Quechua has been introduced in Intercultural bilingual education (IBE) in Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru, which is, however reaching only a part of the Quechua-speaking population. There is an ongoing process of Quechua-speaking populations shifting to Spanish for the purposes of social advancement.[7]

Quechua and Spanish are now heavily intermixed, with many hundreds of Spanish loanwords in Quechua. Conversely, Quechua phrases and words are commonly used by Spanish speakers. In southern rural Bolivia, for instance, many Quechua words such as wawa (infant), misi (cat), waska (strap, or thrashing) are as commonly used as their Spanish counterparts, even in entirely Spanish-speaking areas. Quechua has also had a profound impact on other native languages of the Americas, for example Mapudungun.[citation needed]

The number of speakers given varies widely according to the sources. The total in Ethnologue 16 is 10 million, mostly based on figures published 1987–2002, but with a few dating from the 1960s. The figure for Imbabura Quechua in Ethnologue, for example, is 300,000, an estimate from 1977. The missionary organization FEDEPI, on the other hand, estimated one million Imbabura speakers (published 2006). Census figures are also problematic, due to under-reporting. The 2001 Ecuador census reports only 500,000 Quechua speakers, where most sources estimate over 2 million. The censuses of Peru (2007) and Bolivia (2001) are thought to be more reliable.

There are significant differences between the varieties of Quechua spoken the central Peruvian highlands and the peripheral varieties of Ecuador on the one hand and southern Peru and Bolivia on the other. These can be labeled Quechua I (or Quechua B, central) and Quechua II (or Quechua A, peripheral). Within these two groups, there are few sharp boundaries, making them dialect continua. However, there is a secondary division in Quechua II between the grammatically simplified northern varieties of Ecuador, Quechua II-B, known there as Kichwa, and the generally more conservative varieties of the southern highlands, Quechua II-C, which include the old Inca capital of Cuzco. The closeness is at least in part due to the influence of Cuzco Quechua on the Ecuadorean varieties during the Inca Empire, as northern nobles were required to educate their children in Cuzco, maintaining Cuzco as the prestige dialect in the north.

Speakers from different points within any one of these three regions can generally understand each other reasonably well. There are nonetheless significant local-level differences across each. (Wanka Quechua, in particular, has several very distinctive characteristics that make this variety distinctly difficult to understand, even for other Central Quechua speakers.) Speakers from different major regions, meanwhile, particularly Central vs Southern Quechua, are not able to communicate effectively.

The lack of mutual intelligibility is the basic criterion that defines Quechua not as a single language, but as a language family. The complex and progressive nature of how speech varies across the dialect continua makes it nearly impossible to differentiate discrete varieties; Ethnologue lists 44 that they judge require separate literature.[9] As a reference point, the overall degree of diversity across the family is a little less than that of the Romance or Germanic families, and more of the order of Slavic or Arabic. The greatest diversity is within Central Quechua, AKA Quechua I, which is believed to lie close to the homeland of the ancestral Proto-Quechua language.

Alfredo Torero devised the traditional classification, the three divisions above plus a fourth, northern Peruvian, branch. The latter cause complications in the classification, however, as they (Cajamarca-Lambayeque, Pacaraos, and Yauyos) have features of both Quechua I and Quechua II, and so are difficult to assign to either. Torero's classification is,

Quechua I or Quechua B or Central Quechua or Waywash, spoken in Peru's central highlands and coast.

The most widely spoken varieties are Huaylas, Huaylla Wanca, and Conchucos.

Quechua II or Quechua A or Peripheral Quechua or Wanp'una, divided into

Yungay (Yunkay) Quechua or Quechua II A, spoken in the northern mountains of Peru; the most widely spoken dialect is Cajamarca.

Landerman (1991) does not believe a truly genetic classification is possible, and breaks up Quechua II, so that the family has four geographical–typological branches: Northern, North Peruvian, Central, and Southern. He includes Chachapoyas and Lamas in North Peruvian Quechua, so that Ecuadorian is synonymous with Northern Quechua.[11]

Quechua I (Central Quechua, Waywash) is spoken in Peru's central highlands, from Ancash to Huancayo. It is the most diverse branch of Quechua,[12] to the extent that its divisions are commonly considered different languages.

II-B: Northern Quechua (also known as Runashimi or, especially in Ecuador, Kichwa) is mainly spoken in Colombia and Ecuador. It is also spoken in the Amazonian lowlands of Colombia, Ecuador, and in pockets in Peru

Quechua shares a large amount of vocabulary, and some striking structural parallels, with Aymara, and these two families have sometimes been grouped together as a 'Quechumaran' family. This hypothesis is generally rejected by specialists, however; the parallels are better explained by mutual influence and borrowing through intensive and long-term contact. Many Quechua–Aymara cognates are close, often closer than intra-Quechua cognates, and there is little relationship in the affixal system.

The influence on Latin American Spanish includes such borrowings as papa for "potato", chuchaqui for "hangover" in Ecuador, and diverse borrowings for "altitude sickness", in Bolivia from Quechuan suruqch'i to Bolivian sorojchi, in Colombia, Ecuador, and Perusoroche. In Bolivia particularly, Quechua words are used extensively even by non-Quechua speakers. These include wawa (baby, infant), ch'aki (hangover), misi (cat), juk'ucho (mouse), q'omer uchu (green pepper), jacu ("lets go"), chhiri and chhurco (curly haired), among many others. Quechua grammar also enters Bolivian Spanish, such as the use of the suffix -ri. In Bolivian quechua, -ri is added to verbs to signify an action is performed with affection, or, in the imperative, as a rough equivalent to please. In Bolivia -ri is often included in the Spanish imperative to imply "please" or to soften commands. For example, the standard "pásame" (pass me), becomes pasarime.

At first, Spaniards referred to the language of the Inca empire as the lengua general, the general tongue. The name quichua is first used in 1560 by Domingo de Santo Tomás in his Grammatica o arte de la lengua general de los indios de los reynos del Perú.[13] It is not known what name the native speakers gave to their language before colonial times, and whether it was Spaniards who called it quechua.[13]

There are two possible etymologies of Quechua as the name of the language. There is a possibility that the name Quechua was derived from *qiĉ.wa, the native word which originally meant the "temperate valley" altitude ecological zone in the Andes (suitable for maize cultivation) and to its inhabitants.[13]

Quechua uses only three vowel phonemes: /a//i/ and /u/, as in Aymara (including Jaqaru). Monolingual speakers pronounce these as [æ] [ɪ] and [ʊ] respectively, though the Spanish vowels /a//i/ and /u/ may also be used. When the vowels appear adjacent to the uvular consonants /q/, /qʼ/, and /qʰ/, they are rendered more like [ɑ], [ɛ] and [ɔ] respectively.

Quechua has been written using the Roman alphabet since the Spanish conquest of Peru. However, written Quechua is not used by the Quechua-speaking people at large due to the lack of printed referential material in Quechua.

Until the 20th century, Quechua was written with a Spanish-based orthography. Examples: Inca, Huayna Cápac, Collasuyo, Mama Ocllo, Viracocha, quipu, tambo, condor. This orthography is the most familiar to Spanish speakers, and as a corollary, has been used for most borrowings into English.

In 1975, the Peruvian government of Juan Velasco adopted a new orthography for Quechua. This is the writing system preferred by the Academia Mayor de la Lengua Quechua. Examples: Inka, Wayna Qhapaq, Qollasuyu, Mama Oqllo, Wiraqocha, khipu, tampu, kuntur. This orthography:

uses w instead of hu for the /w/ sound.

distinguishes velar k from uvular q, where both were spelled c or qu in the traditional system.

distinguishes simple, ejective, and aspirated stops in dialects (such as that of Cuzco) which have them – thus khipu above.

continues to use the Spanish five-vowel system.

In 1985, a variation of this system was adopted by the Peruvian government; it uses the Quechuan three-vowel system. Examples: Inka, Wayna Qhapaq, Qullasuyu, Mama Uqllu, Wiraqucha, khipu, tampu, kuntur.

The different orthographies are still highly controversial in Peru. Advocates of the traditional system believe that the new orthographies look too foreign, and suggest that it makes Quechua harder to learn for people who have first been exposed to written Spanish. Those who prefer the new system maintain that it better matches the phonology of Quechua, and point to studies showing that teaching the five-vowel system to children causes reading difficulties in Spanish later on.

Writers differ in the treatment of Spanish loanwords. Sometimes these are adapted to the modern orthography, and sometimes they are left in Spanish. For instance, "I am Roberto" could be written Robertom kani or Ruwirtum kani. (The -m is not part of the name; it is an evidential suffix.)

All varieties of Quechua are very regular agglutinative languages, as opposed to isolating or fusional ones. Their normal sentence order is SOV (subject–object–verb). Their large number of suffixes changes both the overall significance of words and their subtle shades of meaning. Notable grammatical features include bipersonal conjugation (verbs agree with both subject and object), evidentiality (indication of the source and veracity of knowledge), a set of topicparticles, and suffixes indicating who benefits from an action and the speaker's attitude toward it, although some languages and varieties may lack some of these characteristics.

In Quechua, there are seven pronouns. Quechua has two first person plural pronouns ("we", in English). One is called the inclusive, which is used when the speaker wishes to include in "we" the person to whom he or she is speaking ("us and you"). The other form is called the exclusive, which is used when the addressee is excluded. ("us without you"). Quechua also adds the suffix -kuna to the second and third person singular pronouns qam and pay to create the plural forms qam-kuna and pay-kuna.

Ordinal numbers. To form ordinal numbers, the word ñiqin is put after the appropriate cardinal number (e.g., iskay ñiqin = "second"). The only exception is that, in addition to huk ñiqin ("first"), the phrase ñawpaq is also used in the somewhat more restricted sense of "the initial, primordial, the oldest".

Noun roots accept suffixes which indicate person (defining of possession, not identity), number, and case. In general, the personal suffix precedes that of number – in the Santiago del Estero variety, however, the order is reversed.[15] From variety to variety, suffixes may change.

Adverbs can be formed by adding -ta or, in some cases, -lla to an adjective: allin – allinta ("good – well"), utqay – utqaylla ("quick – quickly"). They are also formed by adding suffixes to demonstratives: chay ("that") – chaypi ("there"), kay ("this") – kayman ("hither").

There are several original adverbs. For Europeans, it is striking that the adverb qhipa means both "behind" and "future", whereas ñawpa means "ahead, in front" and "past".[16] This means that local and temporal concepts of adverbs in Quechua (as well as in Aymara) are associated to each other reversely compared to European languages. For the speakers of Quechua, we are moving backwards into the future (we cannot see it – i.e. it is unknown), facing the past (we can see it – i.e. we remember it).

The suffixes shown in the table above usually indicate the subject; the person of the object is also indicated by a suffix (-a- for first person and -su- for second person), which precedes the suffixes in the table. In such cases, the plural suffixes from the table (-chik and -ku) can be used to express the number of the object rather than the subject.

Various suffixes are added to the stem to change the meaning. For example, -chi is a causative and -ku is a reflexive (example: wañuy = "to die"; wañuchiy = to kill wañuchikuy = "to commit suicide"); -naku is used for mutual action (example: marq'ay= "to hug"; marq'anakuy= "to hug each other"), and -chka is a progressive, used for an ongoing action (e.g., mikhuy = "to eat"; mikhuchkay = "to be eating").

Particles are indeclinable, that is, they do not accept suffixes. They are relatively rare. The most common are arí ("yes") and mana ("no"), although mana can take some suffixes, such as -n/-m (manan/manam), -raq (manaraq, not yet) and -chu (manachu?, or not?), to intensify the meaning. Also used are yaw ("hey", "hi"), and certain loan words from Spanish, such as piru (from Spanish pero "but") and sinuqa (from sino "rather").

The Quechua languages have three different morphemes that mark evidentiality. Evidentiality refers to a morpheme whose primary purpose is to indicate the source of information.[17] In the Quechua languages, evidentiality is a three-term system. This means that there are three evidential morphemes that mark varying levels of source information. These markers can apply to first, second, and third person.[18] The chart below depicts an example of these morphemes from the Wanka Quechua language.

The parentheses around the vowels indicate that the vowel can be dropped in when following an open vowel. For the sake of cohesiveness, the above forms will be used to broadly discuss the evidential morphemes. However, it should be noted that there are dialectal variations to the forms. The variations will be presented in the following descriptions.

The following sentences provide examples of the three evidentials and further discuss the meaning behind each of them.

Regional variations: In Quechua languages, not specified by the source, the inference morpheme appears as –ch(i), -ch(a), -chr(a).

The –chr(a) evidential indicates that the utterance is an inference or form of conjecture. This inference relays the speaker’s non-commitment to the truth-value of the statement. It also appears in cases such as acquiescence, irony, interrogative constructions, and first person inferences. These uses constitute non-prototypical use and will be later discussed in the Changes in Meaning and Other Uses section.

Regional variations: It can appear as –sh(i) or –s(i) depending on the dialect.

With the use of this morpheme, the speaker “serves as a conduit through which information from another source passes”. The information being related is hearsay or revelatory in nature. It also works to express the uncertainty of the speaker regarding the situation. However, it also appears in other constructions that are discussed in the Changes in Meaning section.

Hintz discusses an interesting case of evidential behavior found in Sihaus Quechua. The author postulates that instead of three single evidential markers, this Quechua language contains three pairs of evidential markers.[27]

Affix or Clitic

It may have been noted the evidential morphemes have been referred to as ‘markers’ or ‘morphemes’. The literature seems to differ on whether or not the evidential morphemes are acting as affixes or clitics, in come cases, such as Wanka Quechua, enclitics. Lefebvre and Muysken (1998) discuss this issue in terms of case but remark as to how the line between affix and clitic is not a clear one.[28] Both terms will be used interchangeably throughout these sections.

Position in the Sentence

The evidentials in the Quechua languages are “second position enclitics” that attach to the first constituent in the sentence as shown in the examples below.[29]

huk-si

ka-sqa

huk

machucha-piwan

payacha

once-REP

be-SD

one

old.man-WITH

woman

Once there were an old man and an old woman.

They can also occur on a focused constituent.

Pidru

kunana-mi

wasi-ta

tuwa-sha-n

Pedro

now-DIR.EV

house-ACC

build-PROG-3SG

It is now that Pedro is building the house.

Sometimes the affix is described as attaching to the focus, especially when in reference to Tarma Quechua,[30] but this does not hold true for all varieties of Quechua. In Huanuco Quechua. The evidentials follow any number of topics, marked by the topic marker –qa, and the element with the evidential must precede the main verb or be the main verb. However, there are exceptions to this rule as well. The more topics there are in a sentence, the more likely to deviate from the usual form.

Chawrana-qa

puntataruu-qu

trayaruptin-qa

wamrata-qa

mayna-shi

Diosninchi-qa

heqarkaykachisha

syelutana-shi

so:already-TOP

at:the:peak-TOP

arriving-TOP

child-TOP

already-IND

our:God-TOP

had:taken:her:up

to:heaven:already-IND

When she (the witch) reached the peak, God had already taken the child up into heaven.

Changes in Meaning and Other Uses

Evidentials can be used to relay different meanings depending on the context and perform other functions. The following examples are restricted to Wanka Quechua.

The direct evidential, -mi

The direct evidential appears in Wh-Questions and Yes/No Questions. Considering the direct evidential in terms of prototypical semantics, it seems somewhat counterintuitive to have a direct evidential, basically an evidential that confirms the speaker’s certainty about a topic, in a question. However, if one focuses less on the structure and more on the situation, some sense can be made. The speaker is asking the addressee for information. Therefore, the speaker assumes the speaker knows the answer, or else why would they bother asking. This assumption is where the direct evidential comes into play. The speaker holds a certain amount of certainty that the addressee will know the answer. The speaker interprets the addressee as being in “direct relation” to the proposed content; this situation is the same as when, in regular sentences, the speaker assumes direct relation to the proposed information.[31]

imay-mi

wankayuu-pu

kuti-mu-la

when-DIR

Huancayo-ABL

return-AFAR-PAST

When did he come back from Huancayo?

(Floyd 199, p. 85)

The direct evidential affix is also seen in Yes/No Questions. This is similar to the situation with the Wh-Questions. Floyd describes the Yes/No questions as being “characterized as instructions to the addressee to assert one of the propositions of a disjunction”.[32] Once again, the burden of direct evidence is being placed on the addressee, not on the speaker. The question marker in Wanka Quechua, -chun, is derived from the negative –chu marker and the direct evidential (realized as –n in some dialects).

tarma-kta

li-n-chun

Tarma-ACC

go-3-YN

Is he going to Tarma?

(Floyd 1999, p. 89)

The inferential evidential, -chr(a)

While –chr(a) is usually used in an inferential context, it has some non-prototypical uses.

Mild Exhortation

In these constructions the evidential works to reaffirm and encourage the addressee’s actions or thoughts.

mas

kalu-kuna-kta

li-la-a

ni-nki-chra-ri

more

far-PL-ACC

go-PST-1

say-2-CONJ-EMPH

Yes, tell them, "I've gone farther."

(Floyd 1999, p. 107)

This example comes from a conversation between husband and wife discussing the reactions of their family and friends after they have been gone for a while. The husband says he plans to stretch the truth and tell them about far places he has gone, and his wife (in the example above) echoes and encourages his thoughts.

Acquiescence

With these, the evidential is used to highlight the speaker’s assessment of inevitability of an event and acceptance of it. There is a sense of resistance, diminished enthusiasm, and disinclination in these constructions.

paaga-lla-shrayki-chra-a

pay-POL-1›2FUT-CONJ-EMPH

I suppose I'll pay you then.

(Floyd 1999, p. 109)

This example comes from a discourse where a woman demands compensation from the man (the speaker in the example) whose pigs ruined her potatoes. He denies the pigs as being his, but finally realizes he may be responsible and produces the above example.

Interrogative

Somewhat similar to the –mi evidential, the inferential evidential can be found in content questions. However, the salient difference between the uses of the evidentials in questions is that in the –m(i) marked questions, an answer is expected. This is not the case with –chr(a) marked questions.

ima-lla-kta-chr

u-you-shrun

llapa

ayllu-kuna-kta-si

chra-alu-l

what-LIM-ACC-CONJ

give-ASP-12FUT

all

family-PL-ACC-EVEN

arrive-ASP-SS

I wonder what we will give our families when we arrive.

(Floyd 1999, p. 111)

Irony

Irony in language can be a somewhat complicated topic due to how it functions differently in languages and, by its semantic nature, is already somewhat vague. For these purposes, it is suffice to say that when irony takes place in Wanka Quechua, the –chr(a) marker is used.

chay-nuu-pa-chr

yachra-nki

that-SIM-GEN-CONJ

know-2

(I suppose) That's how you learn [i.e., that is the way in which you will learn].

(Floyd 199, p. 115)

This example comes from discourse between a father and daughter about her refusal to attend school. It can be interpreted as a genuine statement, i.e., perhaps one can learn by resisting school, or as an ironic statement, i.e., that's an absurd idea.

The hearsay evidential, -sh(i)

Aside from being used to express hearsay and revelation, this affix also has other uses.

Folktales, Myths, and Legends

Because folktales, myths, and legends are, in essence, reported speech, it follows that the hearsay marker would be used with them. Many of these types of stories are passed down through generations, furthering this aspect of reported speech. A difference between simple hearsay and folktales can be seen in the frequency of the –sh(i) marker. In normal conversation using reported speech, the marker is used less to eliminate redundancy.

Riddles

Riddles are somewhat similar to myths and folktales due to their nature to be passed by word of mouth.

ima-lla-shi

ayka-lla-sh

juk

machray-chru

puñu-ya-n

puka

waaka

what-LIM-REP

how^much-LIM-REP

one

cave-LOC

sleep-IMPF-3

red

cow

(Floyd 1999, p. 142)

Omission and Overuse of Evidential Affixes

In certain grammatical structures, the evidential marker does not appear at all. In all the Quechuan languages the evidential will not appear in a dependent clause. Sadly, no example was given to depict this omission.[33] Omissions can and do occur in Quechua. The sentence is understood to have the same evidentiality as the other sentences in the context. It varies among Quechuan speakers as to how much they omit evidentials, though these occur only in connected speech.[34]

An interesting contrast to omission of evidentials is overuse of evidentials. If a speaker uses evidentials too much with no reason, their competence is brought into question. For example, the overuse of –m(i) could lead others to believe that the speaker is not a native speaker of the language or, in some extreme cases, that one is mentally ill.[18]

Cultural Aspect

By using evidentials, the Quechua culture has certain assumptions about the information being relayed. Those who do not abide by the cultural customs should not be trusted. A passage from Weber (1986) summarizes them nicely below:

(Only) one’s experience is reliable.

Avoid unnecessary risk by assuming responsibility for information of which one is not absolutely certain

Don’t be gullible. There are many folktales in which the villain is foiled by his gullibility.

Assume responsibility only if it is safe to do so. Successful assumption of responsibility builds stature in the community. ([35]

Evidentials also show that being precise and stating the source of one’s information is extremely important in the language and the culture. Failure to use them correctly can lead to diminished standing in the community. Speakers are aware of the evidentials and even use proverbs to teach children the importance of being precise and truthful. Precision and information source are of the utmost importance. They are a powerful and resourceful method of human communication.[36]

Although the body of literature in Quechua is not as sizable as its historical and present-day prominence would suggest, it is nevertheless not negligible.

As in the case of the Mesoamerican civilizations, there are a number of surviving Andean documents in the local language that were written down in Latin characters after the European conquest, but which express to a great extent the culture of pre-conquest times. The Quechua literature of this type is somewhat scantier, but nevertheless significant. It includes the so-called Huarochirí Manuscript (1598), describing the mythology and religion of the valley of Huarochirí, as well as Quechua poems quoted within the Spanish-language texts of some chronicles dealing with the pre-conquest period. There are a number of anonymous or signed Quechua dramas dating from the post-conquest period (starting from the 17th century), some of which deal with the Inca era, while most are on religious topics and of European inspiration. The most famous of these dramas are Ollantay and the plays describing the death of Atahualpa. For example, Juan de Espinosa Medrano wrote several dramas in the language. Poems in Quechua were also composed during the colonial period.[37][38]

Dramas and poems continued to be written in the 19th and especially in 20th centuries as well; in addition, in the 20th century and more recently, more prose has been published. While some of that literature consists of original compositions (poems and dramas), the bulk of 20th century Quechua literature consists of traditional folk stories and oral narratives.[37]Johnny Payne has translated two sets of Quechua oral short stories, one into Spanish and the other into English.

^Adelaar 2004, pp. 258–259: "The Quechua speakers' wish for social mobility for their children is often heard as an argument for not transmitting the language to the next generation. ... As observed quite adequately by Cerrón Palomino, "Quechua (and Aymara) speakers seem to have taken the project of assimilation begun by the dominating classes and made it their own."

Bills, Garland D., Bernardo Vallejo C., and Rudolph C. Troike. An Introduction to Spoken Bolivian Quechua. Special publication of the Institute of Latin American Studies, the University of Texas at Austin. Austin: Published for the Institute of Latin American Studies by the University of Texas Press, 1969. ISBN 0-292-70019-9

RUNASIMI About Quechua and written in the Quechua language. It offers a quantity of texts in Quechua in diverse quechua dialects and languages. In the following languages: Quechua, Spanish, English, Italian, French and German.